More than 130 journalists from around the world attended HARMAN’s press conference on September 2, 2010 in Berlin, Germany during the IFA Consumer Electronics Trade Fair to watch two legends join in launching an exciting new headphones line.  Renowned producer, musician and philanthropist Quincy Jones joined HARMAN in launching the Signature Line of premium consumer headphones from our AKG brand. 

The premium headphone collection represents a milestone partnership between AKG and Quincy Jones, one of the most accomplished musicians of the 20^th century.  The Quincy Jones Signature Line includes three models: the Q701 reference-class premium over-ears, the Q460 high-performance portable on-ear mini headphones and the Q350 in-ear headphones that will boast distinctive AKG^®-built quality and unrivaled audio engineering in an elegant, portable design.

In speaking about his relationship with HARMAN and AKG, Quincy said it was, “the most organic, natural fit I could ever imagine.”  But Jones said the partnership isn’t literally something new, as he’s been using AKG headphones exclusively for years.  “It fits like a glove. It feels like home,” Jones said in an interview with the L.A. Times. “I didn’t have to sit there and talk about quality. They just blow everybody away.”

A 27-time GRAMMY Award winner (who has received more of the awards than any other living musician) and the all-time most GRAMMY-nominated artist, with a total of 79 nominations, Quincy Jones’s career has spanned six decades.  Named by Time Magazine as one of the six most influential jazz artists of the 20^th century, Jones won the first of his many GRAMMY awards in 1963 for his Count Basie arrangement of “I Can’t Stop Loving You.” His three-year musical association as conductor and arranger with Frank Sinatra in the mid-‘60’s also teamed him with Basie for the classic Sinatra at the Sands, containing the famous arrangement of “Fly Me to the Moon,” the first recording played by astronaut Buzz Aldrin when he landed upon the moon’s surface in 1969.

As producer and conductor of the historic “We Are the World” recording (the best selling record of all time), Michael Jackson’s multiplatinum solo albums Off the Wall, Bad and Thriller (the best-selling album of all time), and the multi-GRAMMY-winning Album of the Year Back on the Block, Quincy Jones stands as one of the most successful and admired creative artist/executives in the entertainment world.

A share of the proceeds from every set of Quincy Jones Signature Line by AKG headphones sold will go toward the Quincy Jones Musiq Consortium, a foundation dedicated to making music education an ongoing part of the lives of American children.   

“It’s interesting that music is something that’s been on this planet for all these years,” Jones said.  “I think water and music will be the last thing to leave the planet."